00:22Let us pray.
00:26Praise, honour and glory be to you, O Christ, who, when you were given up to the will
00:32of your persecutors, suffered many torments when they took off the purple robe, which
00:37was stuck to your wounds, and put upon you your own clothes. Grant that after I have
00:44put off the clothing of this body, I may be clad with the robe of perfect charity, and
00:50that I may be adorned with your merit, and through your mercy be introduced as an adopted
00:57son into the heavenly inheritance.
01:01Praise, honour and glory be to you, O Christ, who in the midst of reproach and injury bore
01:07your cross with excessive pain on your sacred and cut shoulders. Wearied and panting for
01:14breath you toiled exceedingly under its heavy weight. Give me grace to take hold of the
01:20cross of self-denial with ardent devotion, and to imitate with the most fervent of charity
01:26the example of your virtues, and to follow you in humility even unto death.
01:35Praise, honour and glory be to you, O Christ, who, when you were led from the city with two
01:41thieves, did not refuse to be pressed upon and thrust, hastened and to be afflicted in
01:47many ways. Draw me after you, that I may quickly follow. Grant that for your sake I may entirely
01:55deny, forsake, and go out of myself. Give me grace to think of you alone and to find no joy,
02:02except in you, my Redeemer. Grant that I may love you alone, and may return love for love,
02:11may I earnestly seek after you, and live to you alone.
02:18Praise, honour and glory be to you, O Christ, who, when bowed down by the weight of your cross,
02:24at length reached the place of punishment, where, quite exhausted, they offered you wine mingled
02:32with gall. May you extinguish in me all gluttonous and carnal desire, giving me grace never to consent
02:41to any impure or unlawful pleasure. But may I take my food in moderation, to the glory of your name,
02:49and may hunger and thirst after you alone, and find no pleasure or gladness except in you.
02:58Praise, honour and glory be to you, O Christ, who was stripped before the gaze of all people on
03:04Mount Calvary, and the soreness of your wounds being increased by the removal of your clothing.
03:11You did not refuse to undergo, for my sake, the most dreadful pain. Grant that I may love the
03:19spirit of poverty, and never be disturbed by want or scarcity. Give me grace to bear patiently any
03:26difficulties or troubles in this life, for the glory of your name. Strip my heart of every vain fancy and
03:34affection. And grant me a holy intent with pious desires, renewing within me daily a most pure love
03:43for yourself. Praise, honour and glory be to you, O Christ, who gave himself up to be extended naked upon
03:52the wood of the cross, on the joints of your most holy limbs, to be wrenched apart, most cruelly nailed
03:59and
03:59fastened thereto. Then for my sake you suffered your most delicate hands and feet, to be most deeply wounded.
04:10Grant, O Lord, that I might remember, with a faithful and grateful heart, this your unspeakable charity,
04:19when you did of your own accord stretch out your hands to be bored and your feet to be pierced
04:25through.
04:26O Lord, enlarge and extend my heart by perfect love of you. Pierce it and fix it to yourself with
04:34the nail of
04:35your sweetest love. And shut up within yourself alone all my senses, all my thoughts and all my affections. Amen.
04:47O Lord, open our lips, and our mouths shall sing your praise.
04:59O Lord, open our lips, and our mouths shall sing your praise.
05:17O Lord, end the verse.
05:19O Lord, bless you.
05:26We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
05:35You put your praise to his kings with thy skin,
05:41and into his gods with praise.
05:46We thank God to him and speak to the Lord of his name.
05:54For the Lord is gracious, his mercy is everlasting,
06:05and his truth endureth from generation to generation.
06:18Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost,
06:28as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be,
06:39world without end. Amen.
06:57Amen.
06:59Amen.
07:23Amen.
07:31Amen.
07:55Amen.
07:57Amen.
08:02Amen.
08:13Amen.
08:16Amen.
08:16O God, he's not himself.
08:22Hear all my people, and I will speak.
08:28I myself will testify against the old Israel.
08:34O I am God, he of thy God.
08:40O I will not include thee in force of thy sacrifice,
08:49nor for thy birth of the name,
08:54because they were not all made before me.
09:02I will take no more look out of thy hands,
09:08nor be no doubt of thy cause.
09:15O all the beasts of the forest are mine,
09:21and so all the cattle are by a thousand hills.
09:29I know all the founts upon the mountains,
09:35and the wild beasts of the field are in my sight.
09:43If I be hungry, I will not spare thee,
09:50for the whole world is mine, and all that is heavy.
09:59I will take no more look out of thy hands,
10:05and drink the blood of yours.
10:10Over and to God, thanks be thee,
10:15and pray thy love, and thou shalt raise me.
10:23And call upon thee in the time of trouble,
10:30so will I hear thee, and thou shalt raise me.
10:38But unto thee, O Lord, he saith God,
10:44I dost outwreach my laws,
10:48and saithest my governance in thy heart.
10:54There hast a day just to be reformed,
10:59and yield thee at the hour,
11:07and thou shalt last the feet of God sent us unto Him,
11:15and hast�esom that we go with thee are dull towards.
11:22Thou hast set thy mutta sin,
16:37This is the word of the Lord.
16:39Thanks be to God.
17:33that all men and women are equal in the sight of God
17:36and it is not for us to try and establish ourselves as leaders
17:43if leaders are needed in the church
17:45the answer is prayer and God will lift up those he wants to be
17:50leaders. For people to argue about leadership
17:54is wrong as we can read for example in the book of Numbers
17:58where time and time again Israel challenged their leadership
18:02of Moses. Following the example of Moses a little further as a leader
18:10he didn't even want to be the leader of Israel
18:13but God insisted and gave him the confidence for the job
18:18truly it is to not put themselves forward
18:20but are chosen in prayer by God
18:27the disciples had just been rebuked for their ambition
18:31debating as to which of them would be the greatest
18:33and now there is a further review of John
18:38their ambitions and jealousies had been temporarily set aside
18:43but they were proud in what they had done
18:45in chastening the man who was casting out demons in Christ's name
18:51we do not know who this man was at all
18:55all we know is that he was not one of them
18:59in other words not being one of the disciples
19:05Christ's reaction is instructive
19:07for it tells us quite clearly that there is no monopoly
19:12something that we should at all times care to remember
19:19we are told that whoever is not against Christ
19:22must be by definition for him
19:27perhaps we should indulge for a moment in a little speculation
19:30as to who this man might have been
19:33so as to make this point a little clearer
19:38it has been argued with perhaps some justification
19:41that this man had been a disciple of John the Baptist
19:44and was preaching the coming of the Messiah
19:46but not knowing that this indeed was Jesus himself
19:52how could it have been therefore a sin
19:54to cast out a demon in the name of the Messiah
19:58believing that he was on the cusp of coming
20:03the point is that the power that this man exercised
20:05did not come from Satan
20:08and we go back to the concept of the divided house
20:10being unable to stand
20:12but from God himself
20:16this could very well have been a man genuine in his faith
20:19who believed the Messiah was about to come
20:21and was preaching this
20:23unaware that the Messiah himself was passing by
20:29the message to John and his fellow disciples wasn't clear
20:34someone preaching the Messiah at his coming was a friend
20:37and should be left alone to continue what he was doing
20:43after all we read that the harvest is great
20:46but the workers are few
20:48so we should not be diverting attention away
20:51from what we are supposed to be doing
20:53to shut them
20:54those who are actually helping us
20:56in spreading the message
21:01Jesus went on to give us a wonderful promise
21:05if we have pity and compassion for our brothers and sisters
21:09or indeed for complete strangers of course
21:12we will have our reward in heaven
21:16this does not mean that feeling sorry for them either
21:19but actually doing something to help them
21:23Jesus was quite specific
21:24he gave the example of giving someone a cup of water
21:28he did not say whoever feels sorry for the thirsty
21:31but whoever gives a cup of water
21:36there is a huge difference
21:38and it is one that tends to get overlooked
21:41because many of us think that by feeling sorry for someone
21:45we are doing as much as actually helping them
21:48while not
21:49obviously it is of no help whatsoever
21:55he then went on to pose a question
21:58which is better to suffer in pain or to live in sin
22:03a set of extreme examples is given
22:05but the message indeed is clear
22:08if a part of our body causes us to fall into sin
22:10on a regular basis
22:12it is better to be without that body part
22:16the consequence of sin we are told is damnation
22:19which is eternal
22:21as opposed to the pain of suffering here on earth
22:24which is only for a few short years
22:32chapter 9 is concluded
22:34by Jesus telling us that we will all be salted by fire
22:38what exactly did he mean by this
22:42well first of all
22:44we are told that we are purified by fire
22:48in Matthew 3.11 we are told by John the Baptist
22:51that Jesus will baptize us with the Holy Spirit
22:53and with fire
22:57fire refines metal and gets rid of the waste
23:00by being put through the fire we are purified
23:03but clean and whole again
23:06salt on the other hand is a preservative
23:09meat that is salted is cured
23:12and can be kept for a long time
23:15without becoming corrupt and rotten
23:18so if we think of ourselves being put through a fire with salt
23:21we can think of ourselves being purified
23:24and then preserved
23:25ready for our trip to heaven
23:30the problem for us however is simple
23:34it hurts
23:36which brings us back to the eternal question
23:40do we prefer pain or gain?
23:49let us pray
23:52grant O Lord we beseech you
23:54that the course of this world
23:56may be so peacefully ordered by your governors
23:59that your church may joyfully serve you
24:02in all godly quietness
24:04through Jesus Christ our Lord
24:07Amen
24:13May the Lord bless us and keep us from all evil
24:17bringing us to everlasting life
24:21Amen
